I came across a side case while studying for Insurance that was too noteworthy to ignore. The case is Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co v. Russell (1968). Here, the insured tried to buy a life insurance policy in an “airport machine” (I’m guessing vending machine). The insured wanted to buy a “T-20″ policy from the machine but didn’t have enough change. He went to the insurer’s booth and was “unwittingly” sold a “T-18″ policy. The T-18 was shorter in time span but offered more benefits. The insured died in a plane crash after the T-18 expired but before the T-20 would have. The court upheld the T-18 and thus no benefits were paid.
The holding makes since, but factually this case is amazing. This guy actually bought insurance for himself in case he died in a plane crash, which still had to be very unlikely even in 1968. It turns out his prudency guarding against a super long shot was the correct intuition, but because he didn’t have enough change it was all for nothing. An anamoly stacked on an aberration against this guy.